VIENNA: Egypt, Tunisia and Libya are setting their sights on boosting natural gas output both to satisfy growing domestic demand and to sell to Europe, industry experts said here Wednesday.
"Gas represented 6 percent of national energy consumption in 1980, it was 48 percent in 2009," Khaled Becsheikh, head of Tunisia’s national energy group Etap told a gathering in Vienna of North African energy producers.
"We expect it will be over 50 percent soon. Gas is our main target for our strategy."
Tunisia is banking heavily on a gas field in the south of the country, which is being developed jointly with the Austrian group OMV.
"Our objective is to produce 1.3 million cubic meters per day in 2014," said Arno Dettlinger of OMV.
Libya, which exports more than 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year, is also ramping up its gas sector. Proven reserves in the country, according to latest estimates, are expected to increase from 1.7 trillion cubic meters to 2.8 trillion, said Hassan Ali Fares of the Libyan group Mellitah.
The expected increase will make Libya the world’s 13th largest holder of gas reserves.
In Egypt, exploration is under way to boost proven reserves to 5.6 trillion cubic meters from 2.2 trillion, which would move the country into the ranks of the top 10 possessors of natural gas, said Mohamed Abdel-Wafa, head of energy group Gupco.
North African countries are counting on a growing European market to absorb their surplus gas production.
But Trevor Morgan, an economist with the International Energy Agency, cautioned that "gas spot prices will remain relatively low."
The prospect of a change in production polices in North Africa in the short or middle term has not alarmed other international producers, according to Guido Micheletti, an official with the exploration unit at Italian group ENI.
"We have been working in the region (for) 50 years," he said.
"We have been through more difficult times than those that commentators predict for the future."
